Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun
Wraps Per Inch: 13 wpi
Needles: US #4 Boye Interchangable
Gauge: 25sts X 27.5 sts over 4 inches X 4 inches (10 cm X 10 cm) in pattern
Pattern: Woven Plaid
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 10 sts, Colors A & B
Book: A Second Treasury of Knitting
Page: 46
For a 36-line, two color pattern, this is a relatively easy stitch. As BW explains, there are is really only an eight row repeat, and even this has a pretty simple logic. Once you understand the pattern, you may find you don’t have to refer to the directions at all. I found that reading the instructions was more work than just knitting them. The trickiest part is keeping the tension correct for the floats.
Knit by: phoenix
Notes:The picture in the book looks like it’s done in a heavy wool, but the stitch is fairly delicate as far as plaid designs go and I wanted to see how it would look in a less substantial yarn.
Because this is predominently stockinette, the sides will curl in a bit.
The stockinette areas rise slightly and the slipped stitch areas slightly recede. This can be remedied somewhat with blocking.
I thought the floats (and there are a lot of them) might make the fabric prohibitively thick, but if you are using a finer yarn, the floats might help with any see-through issues.
October 16, 2008 at 5:10 pm
[...] doing it. But, I was really good and wrote up my thoughts at the time and included them on the entry on the WTP blog. I wanted to submit it then but at the time the swatch was already claimed. The person who claimed [...]
October 16, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Lovely! Thank you for including the extra photos, and your thoughts on the fabric.
I wonder if the problem of the areas with the floats receding could be remedied by working the single-colour areas in reverse stockinette.
October 16, 2008 at 6:05 pm
@ Pork with bones, possibly, it’s worth trying :). I think the effect would be very different and the dotted effect would stand out less on a reverse stockinette background.
October 29, 2008 at 2:24 am
This is really pretty…do you think it would make a pretty baby blanket??? Or are the color blocks too small??
November 1, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Sassysean, while it would make a pretty blanket, it wouldn’t be practical with the floats. It will snag little fingers and just about everything else, too. There are some options I can think of to help remedy the float issue. 1. Use a fusible decorative backing to cover the reverse side. 2. Knit it in the round, seam the sides, top and bottom to make a double thick blanket. Thinner yarn might be a better choice.
That’s all I can think of right now! Hope that helps!